Elke strings

The Elkesaïten or Elchasaiten also Elcha-sai , Elchai were an Aramaic-speaking Christian Anabaptist community that arose around 100 in the East Bank and expanded into Syria .

The name of the group was derived from the alleged founder, the Jewish-Christian prophets Elchasai (with Hippolytus of Rome Ἠλχασαΐ ) (also Alchasaios, Elkesai (at Epiphanius Ἠλξαί )) Elxaios, Elxai, Elkhasaí or Elkesai (in Eusebius and Theodoret Ελκεσαΐ ), who around 116 AD in Mesopotamia in a work Elchasai is said to have received his revelation; the text was not preserved. The work was likely written during the reign of Emperor Trajan and contained laws and apocalyptic prophecies relating to Jewish Christian and Gnostic teachings.

In addition to (repeated) baptism , their cult also included a celebration of the Eucharist (Lord's Supper), the bread of which was decidedly different from the bread of the church ( Azyma ). There are dietary laws (no wheat bread ) and cultic laws are complied with, so that the community of faith as Jewish Christians was.

Based on this identification, early Christian authors assume that the Elke strings were trimmed , Brit Mila . Parallels with the Mandaeans , who, like most Christians, strictly reject circumcision, raise this questionable. There was a strong rejection of Greek-speaking Christianity .

According to the Cologne Mani Codex , Mani, like his father, belonged to the Elkesaiten, from whom he soon turned away in order to found his own religious community, Manichaeism .

literature

Hermann Detering : Elchasai and the heresy of the Epistle to the Colossians. 2012 ( [3] on radikalkritik.de)
August Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Brandt : Elchasai. A founder of religion and his work, contributions to the Jewish, Christian and general religious history in the late Hellenistic period, taking into account the sects of the Syrian Sampseans and the Arab Mughtasila with word, person and subject registers. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1912

Web links

Gerard P. Luttikhuizen: Elk strings. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.

Individual evidence

↑ Gerard Luttikhuizen : Moose strings. Other spelling: Elkesaiten / Elchesaiten created: September 2011 ( [1] on www.bibelwissenschaft.de)
↑ August Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Brandt : Elchasai, a founder of religion and his work: Contributions to the Jewish, Christian and general religious history in the late Hellenistic period with consideration of the sects of the Syrian Sampsäer and the Arab Mughtasila with word, person and subject registers. Philo Press, Amsterdam 1971. Reprint of the Leipzig edition, 1912
↑ Gerard Luttikhuizen: Elchasai (Book of). September 2011, ( [2] on bibelwissenschaft.de)
↑ Gerd Lüdemann : Antipaulinismus in early Christianity. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990, ISBN 978-3-525-53801-2 , pp. 180-193

[1] Gerard Luttikhuizen : Moose strings. Other spelling: Elkesaiten / Elchesaiten created: September 2011 ( [1] on www.bibelwissenschaft.de)

[2] August Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Brandt : Elchasai, a founder of religion and his work: Contributions to the Jewish, Christian and general religious history in the late Hellenistic period with consideration of the sects of the Syrian Sampsäer and the Arab Mughtasila with word, person and subject registers. Philo Press, Amsterdam 1971. Reprint of the Leipzig edition, 1912

[3] Gerard Luttikhuizen: Elchasai (Book of). September 2011, ( [2] on bibelwissenschaft.de)

[4] Gerd Lüdemann : Antipaulinismus in early Christianity. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990, ISBN 978-3-525-53801-2 , pp. 180-193